Until It's Gone
by Kissed A Wookie
Summary: The Four Sword Links are in danger again.  Can Blue save them in time, or will he die trying?


_The Four Sword Links are in a dire situation. Can Blue save them in time, or will he die trying?_

Just to be clear, italicized sentences are Blue's thoughts.

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own LoZ Four Swords, Nintendo does. That is why I must one day own Nintendo.

* * *

><p>"No!"<p>

"But, Blue, it would only be for-"

"Are you deaf? I said no!"

That's when Vio felt the need to intervene. He reluctantly placed his book down on the soft grass he was sitting on and walked over to the bickering Links. "Green, what in Hyrule is all this shouting about?" He sounded irritated. Vio seemed to be that way a lot recently, what with Green and Blue's constant arguing and all. "I am trying to go over the Four Sword's history again, but I cannot focus with all of this yelling."

"Blue's over-reacting _again_," complained the group's leader. "All I did was ask him to-"

"I'm not over-reacting!"

"Blue! You must stop interrupting Green!"

"Yeah! Why do you always do tha-"

"Ughhhh! I'm so out of here!" Blue roared before storming off towards the woods. It was located a short distance from the heroes' small home, and Blue frequently ventured into it to get away from the others for a while.

"Wait, Blue!" called a new voice. Red had heard all the arguing and came out of his house to see what the commotion was about.

Blue quickly turned on his heels. "No, Red! I'm sick of being treated like this! I can't take it anymore! Goddesses, I wish you guys would just get out of my life!" He turned around again and disappeared into the seemingly endless span of trees, Red's broken-hearted face having no effect on him this time.

"Blue!" Red went to run after him, but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. He reluctantly let his counterpart go and wondered what could have possibly made him this upset.

"Let's go, Red," said Vio. "Blue needs some time alone right now. Besides," he looked up at the darkening sky, "it looks like it will start to rain soon. We should get inside." Red glanced once more towards the thick woods, then sighed and followed a calm Vio and frustrated Green back into their home.

Sure enough, about an hour later, the sky opened up. It wasn't raining too hard, actually, but the cloud cover was thick enough to block out most of the sun's rays, so the three Links compensated for the lack of light by placing several lit candles throughout the house.

Red was getting bored fast; Vio was reading, as usual, Green was cleaning up the mess in the kitchen from dinner, and Blue hadn't come back yet. Red didn't want to bother the others, but he was going to go mad if he didn't. He figured it would be best to ask Green first, so he walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Green! Do you want to play a game or something?"

Green looked up from the dish he was washing. "I'm sorry, Red, but I'm too busy right now." Upon seeing the little hero's disappointed face, the leader quickly added, "But if you help me, I'll be done a lot sooner, and then we could play. What do you say?" he asked with a smile.

Red instantly perked up. "Okay!" With two pairs of hands, the rest of the chore took almost no time at all. Since Green was now ready to spend time with him, Red went back to the living room where Vio was. He was still reading, so Red was hesitant in asking, "Um, Vio? Do you, uh, want to play a board game with me and Green…please?" Vio glanced up from his book ready to turn the boy down, but reconsidered when he saw Red's sweet, pleading face. Vio knew he couldn't bring himself to say no now, so he sighed and agreed, once again putting down the thick history book.

The crimson hero's face instantly lit up. "Yay! Come on guys, let's go pick one out!" He bounded down the stairs to the basement where the games were stored, and his two counterparts soon followed, though not with the same enthusiasm. However, Red soon realized he had forgotten something rather important: light. So he bolted back upstairs, lit a lantern, and ran back towards the basement door.

Along the way, he bumped into a table in his haste, but it didn't even faze him as he continued to make his way back to his friends. "Alright guys, I've got a lantern now!" Red shouted as he pulled the door shut behind him. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that he had hit the table with such force that he knocked over a pile of Vio's books, Blue's shield, his stuffed chu chu, and two lit candles.

They landed on top of the fallen books, and the flames instantly began to eat away at them. They grew into one large one, and unsatisfied with just the paper, it crept its way across the wooden floor towards the curtains by the living room window. With new fuel and energy, it then slithered across the wall, stretching to the sofa that was placed against it. The fabric burned easily under the intense flames. As the fire continued to grow in size, it silently spread to the connecting rooms like venom in the bloodstream, leaving the three heroes blissfully unaware of what was happening just above their heads.

... ... ... ... ...

Blue was glad the rain had finally ceased, even though the near infinite tree branches had blocked most of it. He had been walking for a long while and decided to rest for a bit. Spotting a satisfactory tree, Blue jumped up and grabbed one of its lower branches. He then pulled himself up and continued most of the way to the top, stopping when he reached a thick, sturdy branch that was sure to hold his weight. He laid himself out on it and leaned his back against the wide trunk. There was a gentle breeze blowing at that height, and Blue closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath to relax himself.

Yet he couldn't rest his mind. The earlier confrontation kept coming back to him and wouldn't let him be. Each time he thought of it, Blue's anger would flare up again. _Those guys are all idiots. There's no doubt I'd be better off without them. _ He sighed._ Too bad I can't just stay in this tree forever_. The silence and breeze were so calming that the blue hero was only moments away from drifting off to sleep.

Suddenly, his muscles tensed and his eyes shot open. Something wasn't right – he could feel it. Blue looked down to the ground but didn't see any monsters; there weren't any above him either. He was confused, but his instincts had never led him astray. Blue glanced around again, and this time he saw something in the distance: black smoke.

He immediately recognized it as the sign of a fire and skillfully maneuvered his way back to the soft Earth below him. He ran towards the direction he had seen the smoke coming from, ready to lend a hand when he arrived at its source. After a few moments, though, something dawned on him; the path he was taking looked familiar – _too_ familiar. Blue's eyes widened as he realized he had taken this path dozens of times before; he was heading in the direction of his home.

... ... ... ... ...

"Alright, how about this one? We haven't played it in forever!"

"Sure, Red. Whichever one will make you happy," said the team leader. He shot his Red a warm smile before continuing, "Let's head back upstairs where there's more light." Green began to ascend the basement stairs with Red behind him, carrying the game, and Vio at the end. Even in the faint light, the purple-clad boy noticed something out of the ordinary. There was a small amount of what seemed to be black smoke seeping in through the space between the top of the door and the frame.

Vio's eyes then widened in realization. "Green, wait!" But the hero was already reaching for the door handle. Not a second after he grabbed it, Green let go and cried out in pain.

"Ahhhhhh!" He bowed his head and held his burnt hand close to his chest as tears began to roll down his cheeks from his tightly shut eyes.

"Green! Are you alright?" Red asked; he didn't understand what could have hurt his friend just then.

"It's a fire! The house is on fire!" explained Vio, panic laced in his voice. "Don't touch the metal – it has absorbed too much heat."

"What?" Red instinctively reached passed Green for the handle but was able to stop himself in time. "Wait," he turned to Vio, tears forming in his large blue eyes, "if we can't use the door, what do we do?" He listened for a response, but heard Green's voice instead.

"All we can do is-" He stopped and winced from the pain in his left hand. "All we can do is hope that someone finds us before…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish his own sentence.

Lucky for the trio, smoke rises, and the bulk of it was invading the upper floors. This meant that they would have fresh air for a while longer.

But it wouldn't last forever.

... ... ... ... ...

Blue's run morphed into a full sprint as he desperately tried to reach the place he had last left his friends, all the while praying that he was mistaken in what he had seen from his perch in the tree. _Please let me be wrong. Please!_ When he broke out of the woods, he came to a sudden halt.

The flames had consumed so much of the house that they reached up to the very sky, looking as though they wanted to claim it as well. Even from several yards back, Blue could feel the intense heat on his skin, and he began to sweat. Most people would run to get water or help of some kind, but Blue is Blue, so he took a deep breath and ran straight at the burning building, a look of pure determination on his face.

He rammed his shoulder into the weakened front door, and it broke and shattered under the force. Blue froze once more; seeing the building – his home – burning down in front of his eyes was overwhelming. Then shock was replaced by something Blue rarely ever felt – pure fear. His friends were still in there, he just knew it.

"Green!" he shouted. His voice was barely audible over the massive roar of the flames. "Red! Vio! Where are you?" Not receiving an answer, Blue took a deep breath to call their names again. Immediately, thick clouds of ash entered his lungs, causing him to cough violently. He took in a few breaths of normal air and slowed his heart rate, but his voice became raspy and broken. "Gre-en, Re-ed, Vi-o!" He coughed again, expelling more of the soot from his lungs. It burned his eyes and they began to water, blurring his vision a little.

_Din, why did I ever make that stupid wish? I take it back! I'm sorry guys, just please be okay…_

... ... ... ... ...

"Shh! Did you guys hear that?" All three Links in the house's lower level listened intently.

"Gre-en, Re-ed, Vi-o!" The voice sounded distant and was difficult to hear, yet six pointed ears were still able to pick it up.

Red gasped. "I think that's Blue!" He turned to face the door, cupped his hands around his mouth, and called out, "Hey Blue! BLUE!"

The other two joined in, and their voices mixed together.

"Blue!"

"Over here!"

"Hey!"

"Help us!"

"We're down here!"

... ... ... ... ...

Blue could have sworn he heard voices. He forced himself to stop coughing and strained his ears. A few faint voices reached him and he ran towards them, stopping near the basement door. "Guys! Where are you!" He wheezed again, the tainted air gradually becoming too much for him.

"Blue! We're in the basement!" called Green.

Blue's muscles tensed for a brief moment before he turned to face the door. "Green? Green! Are you and the others okay?"

"Yes, but do not touch the door handle, Blue!" Vio warned. "It is burning hot!"

"Then how am I supposed to-" he broke off to cough out the smoke that had re-entered his lungs.

Red then called out, "Blue! You can use my ice rod to cool it down! I left it on my bed in my room!"

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can." Blue reluctantly left his companions to bolt up the stairs. He got halfway up them when a chunk of the ceiling broke away and fell on top of him, causing him to fall face first. He couldn't hold back a scream as the lit beam which lay across him roasted his back.

Blue was pinned down, and the fire was quickly turning his skin black. He felt a brief flicker of defeat as he lay there being slowly cooked alive. The world began to fade, and he almost passed out. But then his thoughts returned to his trapped teammates who still needed his help. _They…they're counting on me! I can't leave them down there!_ Blue mustered up all the strength he could and pushed himself up on his hands; the strain on his face revealed just how much he was struggling. He then flipped himself over onto his back to pull his legs out from underneath the rubble.

Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't free himself; his right leg was caught on something and he couldn't get it loose. Knowing what had to be done, Blue braced himself and gave his leg a hard yank. The wood it had been stuck under tore it and made a huge gash. Blood gushed out of it, but Blue didn't even care as he stood up and rushed to Red's room.

The fire and ice rods were lying on the charred bed, completely unharmed. The fire rod could not be damaged by its own element, and the ice rod held enough frozen energy to repel the surrounding flames. Without thinking, Blue grabbed the handle of the ice rod; luckily, it had not absorbed the heat due to its power. He ran back downstairs, carefully maneuvering around the pile on the stairs and other debris littered across the first floor.

When Blue reached the basement door, he felt dizzy, but he shook his head and pointed the weapon at it, yelling 'ice rod' the way Red always did. Sure enough, a gust of wind and ice blew out of it and nearly froze the entire door. "Ram it dow- *cough cough* down!" the suffering hero commanded to the others as he backed away. Suddenly, the door broke off its hinges and crashed onto the floor, revealing three boys separately dressed in green, red, and purple.

Just then, the house let out a load moan, warning its occupants that it was going to collapse at any moment. The four boys ran out the hole where the front door used to be; they got to a safe distance just as the wood frame collapsed in on itself, shooting dust, ash, and sparks high into the air.

"Are you guys okay?" Blue asked in a frightfully shaky voice. As he slowly moved air in and out of his lungs the slow his rapid pulse, he wheezed, drawing the attention of three concerned faces.

"We're fine, thanks to you," Green answered, "but I'm more concerned with whether or not _you're_ okay."

Blue only managed to say "I'm fi-" before suffering another coughing fit. He stopped when he suddenly felt very lightheaded; he couldn't get his eyes to focus on anything, and his legs began to shake as the right one gradually became numb. The last thing he heard was a voice yelling, "Someone catch him! He's gonna-" before falling unconscious.

... ... ... ... ...

*Beep…Beep…Beep…*

_Ugh, what _is_ that?_ Blue weakly opened his eyes, but quickly shut them when met with a harsh, blinding light. He tried again, but much slower this time. He had to squint at first, but then his eyes quickly adjusted. The world around him was still blurry, so Blue tried to rub them with his hands. The only thing was, his arms wouldn't move. Blue then noticed they had been tied down. He was too groggy to panic, but he still wanted to know what on Earth was going on.

*Beep…Beep…Beep…*

Blue groaned. "I'm gonna go _nuts_ if that stupid beeping doesn't stop," he thought, not knowing he had actually said it out loud.

"Trust me, you don't want it to stop." Blue flinched, not realizing anyone was near him. He turned his head and saw something tall, green, and blurry.

He assumed it was Green, but all he could think to say was, "Huh?"

"That beeping is your heartbeat, dimwit. A heart rate monitor is making that noise." Blue turned to Vio. He tried to give him a pissed off look, but he was too tired to do so effectively, though he still tried his best.

_Okay, so I'm in a hospital._ "Why won't my arms move?" Blue asked; he sounded how he usually did – annoyed.

A childish voice piped in, "Your arms were restrained so you wouldn't accidentally yank out the intravenous drip. It's standard procedure here." Red's face then changed into a concerned frown. "H-how are you feeling?"

"Well, I feel kinda groggy, and there's this dull pain in my back." Blue answered as he closed his eyes again.

"Sounds like the medicine's working," Green observed.

Then Blue asked a question that most people would have asked first, "What happened exactly?" The three Links explained together:

"We went to the basement to pick out a board game to play…"

"…and when we went to go back upstairs, the house was on fire."

"We couldn't escape through the door…"

"…so we were trapped until someone found us…if they ever did."

"Lucky for us, you came to our rescue, but you got hurt pretty badly…"

"…and you fainted as soon as we got outside. We took you to the hospital immediately…"

"…and the doctors fixed you up. They also bandaged Green's hand. That's pretty much it."

Blue groaned and regretted asking his question; this was too much for his mind after having just woken up. But curiosity got the better of him, and he asked another question. "So, what happened to me that I'm here?"

"I'd say _too_ much happened." The four boys turned their heads to see the doctor who had just walked in. He wore a blue collared shirt with a blue and black striped tie, tan colored pants, brown shoes, and a long, thin, white coat; a stethoscope hung around his neck. "You suffered several injuries: your lungs had a thick coating of ash in them, part of you back was burnt and the skin there was peeling, and your right leg was torn pretty badly; you lost a lot of blood because of it."

"Oh…" was all Blue could say.

Then the doctor continued, "Fortunately, your lungs are clearing up, your back has been cleaned and bandaged, your leg has been stitched up and shows no signs of infection, and," he smiled and gestured towards the other Links, "it was very easy to get you more blood. You should count yourself lucky."

Vio then added, "But since you are still in pretty bad shape, you will have to remain here for a few more days." Just then, a nurse came in and informed the doctor that he was needed elsewhere at the moment, so he told the boys that he would be back later to check up on Blue and left, leaving the Links to themselves.

"Um, thanks," said Blue awkwardly, "you know, for the blood."

"It was the least we could do for you. You did save us after all."

"Yeah, Vio's right," commented Red. "You're our hero!"

Green laughed a little. "Come on, guys. Let's leave him be for a while so he can rest." He motioned for the others to follow him out of the room. They stopped, however, when they heard a voice behind them.

"W-wait. Would you guys, uh, mind staying in here instead? I feel like I just got you guys back."

"Sure, Blue!" Red smiled and quickly leapt into one of the room's chairs. "Oh, I _knew_ you couldn't stay mad at us! We love you, too!"

"What? N-no! I just can't trust you guys to be alone right now. I mean, just look what happened last time I did!" Blue scowled in a futile attempt to hide his blush.

Vio smirked. "Uh-huh. Suuuure, Blue." That earned him a glare from his blue counterpart, but his smirk just widened.

"Alright, Blue, we'll stay here with you. And don't worry, we won't be going anywhere soon," said the smiling leader. He then directed to Red and Vio, "Come on you two, leave him be and try to be as quiet as you can." He then grabbed a magazine and sat down to begin reading it. Vio read a book he brought with him and was soon in his own little world; Red played with the coloring book he had found earlier in one of the waiting rooms.

Blue rolled his eyes before closing them and resting his cheek on a surprisingly soft pillow. _Ugh, they're nothing but a bunch of annoying idiots. But at least they're here with me, and I want it to stay that way._ After a few moments, the only other sound in the room besides the steady beeping was the sound of soft snoring.

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><p>I'm sorry, Blue! Why do I love making crap happen to you?<p>

Yes, yes, I know. I wanted to keep it real by not giving the Links' home electricity, but then I went and made the hospital all modern. It doesn't make sense, but oh well.

Also, I was going to add this at the end, but it would have dragged it out too much: Zelda offers to rebuild a new home for her friends and furnish it with whatever they want. I don't want you guys to think the Links are homeless now. (Also, their Four Swords and Red's fire and ice rods survived the fire.)

The title is based off of "You don't know what you have until it's gone."


End file.
